Episode 2 of the Overly Competent Villain

Janssen von Wittenberg

This is a story from 22 years ago.

“Zach. My child’s name is Zach.”

“Then Jacques Pietro after my surname. What a wonderful name.”

I was born into an ordinary village, an ordinary couple, and an ordinary child.

From practicing toddling in childhood to learning to write, it was a very difficult job, but this world was a different world to me.

“It’s real? There’s a wizard in town! A deal to set off firecrackers at the festival!”

it was a fantasy

“Aren’t you making a fuss about people who make firecrackers as just wizards?”

It was a new home.

“Isn’t it? A real wizard!”

“I can’t believe it until I see it with my own eyes.”

It was a new family.

“Mistress! Zach is always like that!”

“Dude, is this a habit you say to your brother?”

I saw real magic in the square where I arrived led by my sister.

Real magic, not technology created with techniques and special tools.

To be honest, I thought it was a common fuss in the countryside until I first saw it.

So, just imagine.

The impression of a stranger from a world where sword mastery and magic were products of fantasy witnessing real fantasy.

i wanted to be a wizard

I also wanted to become a sword master.

If I could, I wanted to meet those great nobles. Everyone would have. it was normal

I didn’t think that it wouldn’t be such a good thing for an ordinary villager A to meet such a being.

“Don’t leave even one alive!”

“No one should ever leave this place alive!”

It didn’t even take half a day. The time it took for the world I knew to disappear.

「Captain! This area has been cleaned up. Incineration is also underway.”

“Yes… it is an order to burn it thoroughly. We must… do as commanded.”

The justification was not to bring the plague spreading in the village outside, which was not even a funny reason.

I found out later

A man who was the leader of the frontier knights.

That the man who ordered the killing of the village where I lived, my family, and all my friends was Janssen von Wittenberg, who would later become the sword master and commander of the imperial family’s knights.

did you say

It would not be a very good thing for an ordinary person to meet a superhuman.

* * * *

A sanatorium of about five pyeong. It was cramped for a nobleman’s private room and the furnishings were poor, but considering her financial situation, it was a luxurious room that must have been quite excessive.

Still, considering the status of a patient confined to this nursing room, there will be an impression that it is not enough no matter how much you look at it.

The identity of the patient is the former imperial knight commander and head of Wittenberg, a master of swordsmanship. And it was because the Empire was proud of the master-level strongman, Janssen von Wittenberg.

“It’s been 12 years since we’ve met face to face, Count.”

“hehehe, it’s as clear as yesterday to me.”

“I’ve been watching since I heard that he went crazy. Just to see if it’s true.”

“For 12 years? Directly?”

When the count looks surprised, of course he denies it.

“I outsourced. I’m a busy person.”

Like Hannah, who just left, I always had watchers around the Count.

Is he really out of his mind, or does he neglect it even in the process of the family’s decline?

But it was clear he was really out of his mind.

No matter how much he was dismissed from the position of the head of the Imperial Knights, the personal connections he has accumulated over the years are as thick as a rock. Above all, as long as he himself is a sword master, the value of a count does not fade greatly.

Nevertheless, the family collapsed, the property was taken away by the collateral, and the one remaining direct descendant struggled in poverty to support his father.

It was true that he was really out of his mind.

“Did you finally come to kill me?”

“That can’t be the case. Even if he was old and sick, how would I kill the former Sword Master? I would have sent an assassin to do that.”

“That’s right. Would you like some coffee?”

The Count pointed with his hand to the coffee pot on the table in the nursing room. When I nodded, he poured hot water while manually grinding coffee beans.

Like treating an old friend.

“Do you remember? When I visited the military academy just after the war with the Pasha Kingdom. That time was…”

“It was thirteen years ago.”

“That’s right. That was the year after I fought the great Thundermancer. I’m sorry. My sense of time is fuzzy because I’ve been sober.”

He couldn’t hide his regret for the lost time. And it wasn’t for himself.

“Ms. Elysia. She grew up well. She grew up straight and splendid.”

“Ah, Ellie. My daughter…”

“While you weren’t whole, that child led the family alone. I couldn’t stop him from getting out of whack, though.”

The Count put down his coffee with sad eyes and sat down in his rocking chair. With eyes full of remorse, he asks me, the enemy of the family.

“How old is Ellie now?”

“Twenty-five. You’re a virgin now.”

“I see. It’s already… it’s already happened.”

We remembered thirteen-year-old Elysia from 12 years ago.

An innocent child who respected his father and glared at the cadet he brought.

“Thank you.”

“what?”

“For not hurting my daughter…”

At that, I smiled.

Elysia was not the target of the old anger that would not be relieved even if she broke the count’s delicate neck even now.

Because she was as innocent as she was in a grudge as deep as the valley between the count and me.

“We must end our grudge on our own. I have no intention of involving a third party.”

My future self killing her was just a response to survival.

If she hadn’t pursued me, I would have left Elysia alone.

“I see. That’s… a generous measure.”

“But I can’t keep my hands off her now. Your daughter is already in the storm.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Because Elysia von Wittenberg is a sword star.”

“······!”

The count’s eyes widened. He knows that the designation I mentioned is not just a nickname. That’s why I desperately denied it.

“A lie… how do you know that?”

Because this man couldn’t understand what it meant to be blessed by the stars.

That’s why he gives evidence to those who don’t believe it. It was a relic that had been absorbed into my body.

“Relic… why is it in your hands…”

“Because I am the heir of this era.”

The Count trembled in disbelief. However, there was undeniable evidence right in front of my eyes, so I couldn’t speak.

“A storm is coming, Count. We need to prepare a good breakwater to withstand the storm.”

“What… does that mean?”

“Let’s put our old grudges aside for a while and think about the future.”

Janssen von Wittenberg’s lifespan was not long. I won’t be able to make it past this year at the latest.

In the previous episode, I didn’t think about his natural death and came late. No, it would have been meaningless to visit the count who was insane in the first place.

But now it is different.

I know why the Count is out of his mind.

What the organization he was loyal to did to the Count.

A very brief gap created by Abdeslam’s kidnapping. That this is their last chance, considering their minions who will come to inject drugs into his veins even tonight.

“How can I trust you? First of all, I’m your enemy. Can you trust me that you won’t do that when they’ve beaten me like this?”

“I am not like them. I am Jacques Pietro.”

A notorious villain. But I never break my promise Because that’s the dignity I have as a villain.

“Your daughter is destined to be caught in a storm. That’s the fate of those connected to the stars. But with your cooperation, I will keep my duty.”

“······That’s enough.”

The count bowed his head as if he believed in my verbal promise. Then it’s time to get paid.

“Tell me your name.”

“name?”

The Count tilted his head in surprise.

“I thought you’d say ‘town number 43’. Your hometown.”

“I already know that. During the 12 years you’ve been messing around, I’ve built my own kingdom.”

A kingdom of crime with infinite resources, personal connections, and organizational power. Above all, there is information about the future.

“But there’s a limit to just being active in the underworld. I haven’t been able to figure out the important ‘names’.”

The future was a turbulent time.

The empire collapsed, and countless downpours erupted from the collapsed breakwater.

How many other ‘names’ were changed in the process? The information gap between 10 years later and now is bound to be large.

“I don’t know for sure either. After all, I was just a minion under orders. But… I know at least one person for sure.”

The count picked up his pen and began to write something on the piece of paper. the name he wrote. The one who treated the count like a servant and instructed me to burn down the village where I lived.

“You were closer than I thought.”

yes, that’s what i meant After all, he was hiding from the high-ranking members of the empire.

While I checked the names and thought, the Count threw the note into the fireplace.

“Besides that, I have a lot to check with you. For example… D-Documents.”

Besides what Abdeslam was sure the Count knew of the source, there was much more to be learned from the sane Count.

The night spent in conversation with the count was short. But the density was thick enough.

“Lastly… may I ask you one question?”

“Speak.”

“Did you meet the ‘dragon’ that day…?”

Count’s last question. I smiled silently.

* * * *

After the kidnapping of Count Jansen, the nursing home repeatedly apologized to Elysia, the guardian, and promised to strengthen the security.

Elysia accepted the apology politely, although she thought that the private sanitarium could not stop terrorists like Abdeslam even if it strengthened its security.

“Whoa…”

While in the hospital, Elysia was unable to speak to her father. It’s because I haven’t been able to visit the hospital for a while for various tests.

Above all, it was not easy for Elysia to escape alone in the yard where the Investigation Agency was overturned by Jacques Pietro’s escape.

“Father… I’m going in.”

There, guided by the caregiver, was the Count, who was entrusted with a rocking chair. If there are any differences from before…

“Have you come?”

That the count’s mind is intact enough to recognize his daughter’s visit.

“father······.”

With that alone, Elysia seemed to have been rewarded for the past 12 years.

“Are you okay now?”

“Yeah, you’ve been through a lot.”

Elysia restrained herself from crying. I didn’t want to show the crying child to the father I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Baby… what should I do? What should I do?”

“father?”

Count Janssen felt guilty as if the harsh fate given to Elysia was due to his own sinful karma.

Passing on magic to the world, those born with the destiny of the stars awaken. It always pointed to one.

The appearance of the evil star that will lead to the catastrophe of the stars.

It is the protection of the stars that the stars intervene against the arrival of evil.

Elysia’s destiny was chosen to be at the center of such a bitter battle.

“Baby. You will face many trials and tribulations in the future. But if you want… there is also a way to escape.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Look and judge for yourself. Next to Jacques Pietro. See, judge and choose with your own will.”

Pietro? Why did that name appear? Wasn’t the father resentful of Pietro? Elysia was confused, but Count Janssen raised Elysia’s sword without saying a word.

“This sword is a treasured sword handed down in our family.

Sword Saint Wittenberg. A great swordsman who slays an evil dragon with the Archmage, who appears in the founding myth of the Empire.

Even in the present era when magic swords are being mass-produced, the sword of Wittenberg is considered one of the best treasured swords in the empire.

“The ancestor who received the blessing of the stars hid the true power of the family in this sword. I… tried to raise the family even through such an ugly thing, but I could not defile this sword.”

“Father, what is that…”

“This sword containing the power of past family heads will protect you.”

Elysia was afraid of the actions of the count holding the family sword. It’s like saying goodbye.

However, Count Janssen decided to leave what he needed for his daughter rather than explain it in words.

Soon, an enormous amount of magical energy began to flow from him. It was the sword master’s novelty.

“Father… Father!”

Elysia hurriedly tried to stop this, but soon she couldn’t get close to the magic power emitted by the sword. Amid the bright light filling the room, what she could see was her father smiling brightly at her.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m a father who only leaves you with burdens.”

The light faded and Elysia hugged her father who bowed her head. The waning warmth gradually faded.